Iran’s Chairing of UN Rights Meeting Condemned as “Absurd”

November 2, 2023

2 min read

“It is unacceptable that any body associated with the promotion and protection of human rights be chaired by a representative from a nation implicated in such persistent and flagrant human rights abuses as Iran,” Ambassador Michèle Taylor, the US permanent representative to the UNHRC, said in a statement on November 2

A US envoy has said that her country “finds it absurd” that an official from the Islamic Republic of Iran is chairing the UN Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) ongoing Social Forum meeting in Geneva, citing “persistent and flagrant human rights abuses” by the country’s authorities.

Ambassador Michèle Taylor, the US permanent representative to the 47-member council, boycotted the two-day meeting, saying in a statement on November 2: “We categorically refuse to sit, converse, or engage in any discussion on human rights chaired by Iran.”

"Any discussion led by representatives of a regime that continually, and with impunity, infringes upon its own citizens´ human rights is not just fruitless, but an insult to our shared ideals," Taylor said.

Human rights advocates have expressed outrage over the appointment of Ali Bahreini, Iran’s UN ambassador, to serve as chairman of this year’s Social Forum, which focuses on the contribution of science, technology, and innovation to promote human rights.

In an apparent swipe at Western sanctions on Iran, Bahreini opened the session by referring to "colonial policies" that he said deprive countries of revenues and hinder technology transfers and knowledge sharing.

The session was poorly attended and many seats were left empty, Reuters news agency reported, adding that China, Cuba, Venezuela and several other countries with good relations with Tehran spoke at the meeting.

“We, alongside many members of the Human Rights Council, remain profoundly troubled by the Iranian regime’s continued repression of its own population, including through the use of technology: the very topic of today’s Social Forum on human rights,” Taylor said in her statement.

“Within the past week, the world witnessed only the latest example of the violence that women and girls face at the hands of their government when Armita Geravand, a 16-year-old girl, died after reportedly being assaulted on the Tehran metro for not wearing a hijab,” the US ambassador also said.